A microphone is a device that converts acoustic signals (e.g., sound waves) to electrical signals that can be transmitted, processed and/or amplified to facilitate presentation of the audio (e.g., transmission of the audio, via electronic signals, to another electronic device for presentation and/or further processing). There are different types of microphones that can be used for a variety of types of applications and/or in a variety of types of electronic devices. Microphones can be used as a stand-alone device, for example, by singers while singing on stage or speakers while giving speeches. Microphones also can be employed in electronic devices, such as, for example, telephones (e.g., mobile phones, landline phones), computers, electronic pads or tablets, electronic games, or audio and/or video recording devices, to facilitate receiving and processing voice or other audio sounds. Recently the use of microphones in wearable devices, such as, smart watches, activity trackers and/or Bluetooth® accessories is gaining popularity.
Conventional wearable devices primarily utilize microphones to receive and/or record audio input (e.g., voice commands) from a user. Typically, the microphones provide a digital audio output that is further processed by an application processor. Since the audio input is not transmitted to a speaker, the need for utilization of an audio codec (coder-decoder) or other device can be eliminated. Accordingly, the size of the microphone package can be kept small so as to make the wearable device lightweight and compact. However, user demand for applications that can present audio outputs (e.g., via a speaker) is in conflict with the desire to provide lightweight and compact wearable devices.